By SHERRY AMATENSTEIN, LCSW I believe your heart is in the right place. Otherwise the plentitude of crassness and platitudes masquerading as life-changing truths I witnessed at the Newark, New Jersey stop of the eight-city tour billed as “Oprah’s The Life You Want Weekend” would... View This Article →

By SHERRY AMATENSTEIN, LCSW I sat pressed between my sister Barb and cousin Susan at Temple Beth-El in Great Neck, New York, fingers twisted around a Kleenex. I wondered if this was the same place I’d sat six years earlier at Ellen’s bat mitzvah. I barely... View This Article →

By JEAN-MARC LEININGER Recent articles in my local newspaper about local wells running dry in the Winters area must be taken seriously. This is the third straight drought year in California, and water levels in aquifers, reservoirs and lakes are getting dangerously low. Jerry Brown... View This Article →

By MARGARET BURNS One of the stops The Main Man and I planned for our tour of the Eastern Midwest was to visit Jeannine, the Main Man’s first wife of nearly 60 years ago in St. Louis, Missouri. I was surprised at the reaction this... View This Article →

By MADGE STEIN WOODS I recently saw a bumper sticker that said, “He who dies with the most toys wins.” It made me think of my father — a man who loved his toys, particularly his bright red Ferrari, which he bought during a midlife... View This Article →

By EDMUND LIS Hey everybody, long time no writing. I’ve been a little busy, a little uninspired, and a little lazy. One of the things I’ve been doing over the past few months is getting signed up for health insurance under the provisions of the... View This Article →

By ANTSY McCLAIN I watch a lot of movies. Cinema complexes have been my escape, my classroom and, at times, even my church. I find commercial television relentless and obnoxious, so my TV remains dark except for big news and weather updates. But I would... View This Article →

By BRIAN HANLEY I’m totally pro-right-to-choose, etcetera. But, as a biologist, I think that Mike Huckabee is unwittingly supporting evolution when he says that women can’t control their libidos. Getting sperm to fertilize eggs is what is going on in this world — evolutionarily speaking.... View This Article →